Pennsylvania Game News - January 2010 - 6

years (2000-2002). The 2008 spring harvest of 40,482 (not including second birds harvested with the special turkey license) was 12 percent above 2007’s (36,296), and 3 percent above the previous 10-year average, when we had harvests of more than 40,000 from 2000-2004. Spring 2008 marked the third year hunters, with the appropriate license, could harvest a second bearded turkey, and license sales increased to 10,733 (8,794 in 2007 and 7,582 in 2006). The reporting 2008-09 rate for this license was 52 percent. We mailed reminder letters to 1,000 randomly selected non-respondents, of which 92 percent did not harvest a second turkey. The estimated harvest was 1,954 (1,507 in 2007) with a success rate of 22 percent (compared to 20 percent in 2007). Fall turkey hunting season length continues to be our primary means of managing populations; season lengths vary from a closed season to three weeks, depending on WMU. Numbers of fall turkey hunters (152,294 in 2008) and days fall turkey hunting (486,592) have been declining since the early 2000s. Even though the fall 2008 harvest of 24,288 was 30 percent below the previous 10-year average, hunter success of 16 percent was the highest since 2002. The trends of fewer fall hunters and hunting days are due to a combination of shorter seasons in almost half of the WMUs since 2004, average to below average spring reproduction, and abundant fall mast crops, which tend to disperse turkey flocks, making them more difficult to locate. We recently completed the final year of a 4-year study with New York and Ohio to determine spring harvest rates and annual survival rates of gobblers. This information is crucial for evaluating the effects of hunting on turkey populations. Over the 4-year study, Pennsylvania leg banded 1,279 turkeys (623 juveniles, 656 adults); New York banded 1,341 (748 juveniles, 593 adults); and Ohio banded 676 (336 juveniles, 340 adults). Half of the bands provided a $100 reward for reporting the harvest/recovery. Reward money was furnished by the NWTF. Additionally, PANWTF provided the PGC $38,000 for trapping supplies, bait and volunteers to assist with trapping activities. Pennsylvania hunters received $27,000 in reward payments. Numbers of grouse hunters in 2008-09 increased six percent from 2007, and the grouse harvest increased by 32 percent. Although the number of hunters and hunter days remained similar to the previous year, harvest per hunter day was up about 23 percent (102,139 hunters took 108,693 birds). The 2008 grouse cooperator survey showed the statewide flushing rate was 1.42 flushes per hour, up from 2007-08’s 1.25. Rates were highest during the November and mid-December portions of the season. Compared with the previous year, the Southcentral was the only region that didn’t have a higher flushing rate. Harvest Information Program surveys conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service indicated 30,700 hunters took 340,900 doves during 129,900 hunter days in Pennsylvania. This was an 18 percent drop in hunter numbers, a 19 percent decrease in hunter days, and a 33 percent decrease in birds bagged. During the year 996 doves were banded by 22 banders, at 38 banding sites. An estimated 9,000 woodcock hunters (most of any eastern state and fourth nationally, behind Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota) took about 19,200 woodcock in 2008. Compared to 2007, this was a 15 percent decrease in the number of hunters, but a harvest increase of 72 percent. So those who did hunt encountered many birds migrating through Pennsylvania. We compiled 2008 woodcock singing ground survey results from selected study sites in northwestern Pennsylvania and at Bald Eagle State Park. For the comparable routes run, there was an increase from 85 birds heard in 2007 to 92 in 6 GAME NEWS

Pennsylvania Game News - January 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pennsylvania Game News - January 2010